Tag Archives: #Check-HCL

For a healthy vSphere virtualization infrastructure and to receive support from VMware it is important to verify that IO devices are listed in VMwares Compatibility Guide/Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) with their correct driver and firmware version. Gathering firmware details and comparing them to the HCL is very time-consuming. I made a small script that automatically gathers the following information:

For a healthy platform and to receive support from VMware it is important to verify that all IO devices are listed in VMwares Compatibility Guide or Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) with their correct driver and firmware version. The HCL is currently only provided as a website which is a problem for automated reports. Therefore I've transformed the VMwares IO Devices HCL into the JSON format, which works great in scripts. Here is the result:

A few month ago I created a VMware HCL in JSON Format. This file should allow you to use the information provided by VMware in their HCL in an automated way. Recently I made some improvements to the JSON HCL and created a working PowerCLI function that can match about 80% of all systems.

Currently, the JSON files are generated every 2-3 days. I also created two filtered versions because the full HCL is very large and contains outdated information:Read more »

VMware vSphere 6.5 is here and a lot of systems are no longer supported. Use the following script to verify that ESXi hosts in your environment are certified for running ESXi 6.5. The script generated the following output for all hosts connected to the vCenter.

End of Support for vSphere 5.0 & 5.1 is reached soon. Use the following script to verify that you ESXi hosts are supported for 5.5 and 6.0. The script generated the following output that explains which releases are supported for all ESXi hosts connected to the vCenter.Read more »

You might be aware that General Support for VMware vSphere 5.0 and 5.1 ends in about 4 weeks at August 24th. If not, I encourage you to use my VMware Product End Of Support Countdown to keep an eye on EOS dates (It also supports ics based calendar reminders).

If you are not running on ESXi 5.5 or ESXi 6.0, it is time to upgrade now. Prior to upgrade, please check VMware Compatibility Guide (HCL) to verify that your server is supported for the targeted vSphere release.

Announced in my VMware HCL in JSON Format post a few days ago, here is now a working version of my script. The script does not create a fancy report at the moment, it just writes some output and the result. It's only intended to show that it actually works. Here is an example:

There are still some problems, but especially with HP, Dell or IBM Systems, it produces good results.

When you want to upgrade ESXi hosts, or just want do create health reports, you might want to verify that the system is listed in VMwares HCL. The HCL is currently only provided as website which might be a problem for automated reports. To make HCL checks, I've transformed the HCL into the JSON format, which works great in scripts. Here is the result:

It's on my to-do list for quite a long time: Create a Script that checks hardware against VMwares HCL. There are some problems that needs to be solved to automate the process. My main problems are matching the installed ESXi version to the release Level (eg. 5.5 U2, 6.0, 6.0 U1,...), integrating the HCL into a script and matching HCL to the physical hardware.

This is what I can do today with PowerCLI, basically by running "Get-VMHost | Check-HCL":
I'm not sure if anyone is interested in automating HCL checks because I couldn't find any scripts online. If you are interested, nice! I need assistance...

I need a larger pool of hardware information to know how hardware identifies itself. So if you want to support me, please run the following PowerCLI command and send me the output (Just Copy/Paste CSV file contents to my Contact Form, or send me an eMail. I will respond with the output of my script as shown above). If you don't want to disclose your hostnames, just remove the "Name" part in the command, or replace the content with dummy-names.